What should an intervention help someone understand, decide or do? These are design hypotheses to test—not outcomes already demonstrated.
Help users distinguish the recruitment stages relevant to their target roles. Link explanations to employer-specific or otherwise credible sources.
Test whether users can identify the next stage and explain why a preparation task matters. Do not imply access to an employer’s private screening rules.
Separate checks of truthfulness, relevance and clarity. Give reasons and references where possible rather than presenting a single score as proof of quality.
Compare whether explanations support better decisions, not just greater confidence or higher satisfaction.
Offer a bounded review process with explicit checks and a clear handoff to action or human support.
Test whether stopping guidance reduces unproductive revision without overlooking important errors. Some users may not need it.
Ask for the concrete experience behind a sentence. Check that AI has not inflated responsibility, invented numbers or changed what happened.
Test the defensibility of claims under realistic workload. Preserve legitimate language assistance and accessibility support.
Provide routes to human advice, practical preparation and support that fits work schedules and career goals.
Establish which needs software can meet and which require changes to access, provision or human support.
Selected quotations. Participant codes link to the profile index; question numbers locate each extract in the transcripts.
“The ATS gives it a score. Then if it's high enough someone reads it. That's what I assume.”
P19 · Business management · Q8
“Videos. Loads of them say it. I haven't actually seen anyone recruit, so I can't tell you for sure.”
P16 · Business management · Q8
“Not that certain, actually. I know they use the systems. I don't know the settings. I still put the keywords in because well at least that's something I can do.”
P03 · Business and marketing, online · Q8
“At the foundation, managers read the forms. Two of them disagreed about a candidate while I was there. One liked the community experience and the other wasn't happy with the reporting example. They went back through it. I don't know what happened before it reached them.”
P14 · Business management · Q8
“My placement manager read CVs and gave people a practical task. I saw that part. I didn't see what HR did before him, so I can't tell you the whole process.”
P18 · Cybersecurity · Q8
“The graduate schemes tell you the stages. Forms, tests, interviews, assessment centre. I've been through some of those. At work we use an agency and the manager interviews people. I don't think there's one process for all of them.”
P20 · Business management · Q8
“It doesn't really feel like a graduate job search to me. More like finishing placement and qualifying. Sorry if that hasn't been much help.”
P05 · Adult nursing · Q19
“A lot of it is who knows you. The broadcaster schemes have forms and tests, but I've seen other jobs get filled before anyone even puts them online.”
P12 · Film, TV and digital production · Q8
Quotations retain transcript wording; omissions within sentences are marked. Methods and source notes ↗
Selected quotations. Participant codes link to the profile index; question numbers locate each extract in the transcripts.
“When it doesn't sound like me. I'll ask ChatGPT which version is best as well, which probably defeats the point. It always has a reason for its choice, though, and I find that reassuring.”
P17 · Law · Q12
“The technical stuff I can check. If something looks odd, I'll look at the docs or try it myself. The recruitment stuff is harder. I don't know what settings they've got.”
P06 · Computing, online · Q12
“If it's made up something about my job, I'll know. I check it against my figures and what they've asked for. When it starts telling me about ATS scores, I don't know how to check that.”
P03 · Business and marketing, online · Q12
“Maybe ease of use? The university logo made it feel approved I guess so I treated the score more seriously. I don't know whether it uses the same sort of model as everything else.”
P09 · Business and computing · Q12
“ChatGPT every day. Canva, Grammarly. Sometimes Gemini. And the CV checker. I like seeing the score go up. It makes me feel I've improved it, even if I can't really tell from reading it.”
P19 · Business management · Q4
“I couldn't choose. One gave it a better score than the other and I was trying to work out why. It was only about three hundred words. I spent most of the evening on it.”
P17 · Law · Q3
“I'd ask the placement team if the CV was any good. Or my friend who's an engineer. AI's fine for a sentence.”
P02 · Mechanical engineering · Q12
“Company information, their website. Technical things, course notes or someone qualified. With wording I check that my manager would recognise the job I'm describing. If it makes me responsible for everything, something's gone wrong.”
P20 · Business management · Q12
“It's there if I need to get started. I don't use it instead of an appointment, really. If anything I'm more likely to leave the application for another day than spend all night talking to ChatGPT.”
P15 · Business management · Q17
Quotations retain transcript wording; omissions within sentences are marked. Methods and source notes ↗
Selected quotations. Participant codes link to the profile index; question numbers locate each extract in the transcripts.
“Some of the wording. If it says I managed suppliers, I take that out. Buying a small amount of fabric isn't really managing a supplier, is it?”
P13 · Business and entrepreneurship · Q5
“Not straight away. It was using words I recognised, so I read past it. Then I thought about them asking me how the system works and realised I'd made it sound like my responsibility.”
P16 · Business management · Q3
“Not when I picture the interview. They'll ask what I actually did, and then I'm explaining why the CV doesn't mean what it says.”
P18 · Cybersecurity · Q13
“Definitely. The first one gets checked properly. By the last one I'm just trying to get it sent.”
P19 · Business management · Q2
“When I'm exhausted I don't check as well. I know I should. Sometimes I just want it sent.”
P11 · Business and tourism management · Q14
“Not a complete invention, but yes. One application said I managed a regional promotion. I managed it in my store and sent feedback to the region. I noticed after submitting. I didn't get an interview, so nothing happened but I’d hate to be caught out on these types of lies I’d be mortified.”
P03 · Business and marketing, online · Q13
“I worry that the application will sound more fluent than I am when speaking, and the interviewer will think I was dishonest. I try to keep the application to be clear, not to pretend that English is my first language.”
P08 · Criminology and law, online · Q14
“Confidentiality. Taking a name out doesn't always make the story anonymous. I nearly typed a work example in once and then thought, no, there's too much in that. I deleted it before sending.”
P15 · Business management · Q14
“I need the steps first. A big block of text is difficult with dyslexia. So I get it to pull out what they're asking for, then do one bit of my CV at a time. I listen to the changes as well.”
P09 · Business and computing · Q5
Quotations retain transcript wording; omissions within sentences are marked. Methods and source notes ↗
Selected quotations. Participant codes link to the profile index; question numbers locate each extract in the transcripts.
“Nobody in my family really knows about graduate jobs. I think that's why I ask it so much. I don't have someone at home who's been through it.”
P16 · Business management · Q19
“Most of the writing goes through it now. I used to ask friends more. You can ask ChatGPT ten times and it doesn't get annoyed, which is probably why I don't stop.”
P19 · Business management · Q17
“Partly timing and partly embarrassment, if I'm honest. I feel I should arrive with a finished plan. I am struggling a bit to decide on a specific direction and I feel like if I don’t do it very specifically then I can’t really achieve anything.”
P01 · Psychology · Q16
“I ask AI first now. I used to ask people more. It's easier when it's late and I don't want to bother anyone. Sometimes I think I use that as an excuse, though.”
P17 · Law · Q17
“She asked if the jobs would actually get me where I wanted. I'd been asking ChatGPT to fix the applications, not really thinking about that.”
P03 · Business and marketing, online · Q16
“It helps with writing when I need it. I'd still want someone to watch the interview or group practice. I didn't spot the listening thing myself, and an AI-written answer about teamwork wouldn't have shown me that.”
P20 · Business management · Q17
“Evening appointments would help. They don't all have to be face to face. I could talk through a form after I've finished everything else. I don't need a new app for that, I don't think.”
P15 · Business management · Q18
“Audio, and simpler text. I'd like to practise with the video timer too. That's the bit the chat doesn't help with.”
P09 · Business and computing · Q18
“I'd ask the placement team if the CV was any good. Or my friend who's an engineer. AI's fine for a sentence.”
P02 · Mechanical engineering · Q12
“I am slowly growing my own business in digital marketing, I already found a couple of small businesses I am working with and offering marketing services and still looking for more business.”
P21 · Business management · Q2
Quotations retain transcript wording; omissions within sentences are marked. Methods and source notes ↗